My life experience in Plymouth

Jasmine Yue

It's been two months since I arrived at Plymouth, although it's been like going through all the frustrations of coming to the UK that I could. I cried late at night when I was homesick, but if I had it to do over again, I would still choose to study abroad.

From never having left home for 21 years, I can now have the ability to live independently in any country or city. I can do the grocery shopping alone and drag my frail body to hospital appointments. I can't stop thinking about what it means for a girl to study abroad.

I think it's important for girls to try more ways of life while they are young. I was watching a conversation between three girls from Peking University and they all mentioned the phrase "life enrichment". I think the experience of studying abroad is also helping us to see more and more possibilities and to increase the richness of our lives.

I've met people from many countries and I've talked to a lot of women and I've found that women all over the world are facing the same issues. One of my friends told me the other day that in their country it is called "women help women" and in China it is "girls help girls", but it is the same thing, they are treated unequally in terms of career and education. I'm really proud of women as a group and see more and more women with more and more power.

There is more and more power in women, and this power comes from a variety of sources: there are girls who see the bigger world through reading, girls who love to travel and make friends, and girls who persevere in their studies and change their cognitive abilities through education.

Time and time again we create more possibilities and opportunities for ourselves, and studying abroad is an opportunity we create for ourselves. We stand in the centre of the world and see the world, listen to different voices and meet people from different countries, making us more rational and better.